Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 11 2023
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LatAmOil                                        COLOMBIA                                            LatAmOil



                         They discussed the challenges facing Brazil and
                         Colombia as countries richly endowed with
                         renewable resources and faced with the respon-
                         sibility of protecting the Amazon rainforest.
                         Both countries are home to sections of the larg-
                         est tropical forest in the world.
                           Prates emphasised the need for energy
                         companies to work with governments to pro-
                         tect the environment. He also drew attention
                         to the environmental projects that Petrobras
                         has undertaken with the goal of preserving the
                         Amazon rainforest, citing the company’s suc-
                         cessful operations in Urucu, in the heart of the
                         Amazon region, as an example of sustainable
                         development in the oil and gas industry. (Urucu
                         is a cluster of onshore oilfields in the Solimoes
                         basin that Petrobras sold to Eneva, a privately   Prates (L) and Vélez (R) met in Houston on March 10 (Photo: Petrobras)
                         owned Brazilian company, in early 2022.)
                           The talks also focused on the prospects for   76 km from the city of Santa Marta.
                         extraction of natural gas from the Tayrona   Petrobras and Ecopetrol are planning to
                         block offshore Colombia, which Petrobras aims   carry out additional exploration drilling at Tay-
                         to develop in partnership with its Colombian   rona over the next two years. In its statement, the
                         counterpart Ecopetrol. The two companies   Brazilian NOC said that the discovery increases
                         discovered a significant accumulation of gas in   the prospects for opening up a new frontier
                         Uchuva-1, a deepwater well drilled at the site, in   basin offshore Colombia and establishes a foun-
                         July 2022. The well was sunk in 830-metre-deep   dation for expanding bilateral co-operation in
                         water at a site located 32 km from the coast and   the oil and gas sector. ™



                                                        GUYANA
       Hess CEO does not expect relinquishment




       demands to affect Stabroek development





                         US-BASED Hess Corp. indicated last week that
                         it did not expect the government of Guyana’s
                         demand that ExxonMobil (US) relinquish 20%
                         of the offshore Stabroek block to affect develop-
                         ment operations.
                           Hess is one of the non-operating partners in
                         Stabroek, which contains Guyana’s only produc-
                         ing oilfields. A subsidiary of ExxonMobil (US)
                         is leading development work at the 6.6mn-acre
                         (26,800-square km) block, and China National
                         Offshore Operating Corp. (CNOOC) also has a
                         working interest in the project.
                           According to John Hess, the CEO of Hess
                         Corp., Georgetown’s expectations of relinquish-
                         ment will not affect the sections of the block   Most of the finds at Stabroek have been made in the “Golden Lane” (Image: Hess)
                         where ExxonMobil and the other investors are
                         currently producing oil or where they intend   joint venture agreed to those provisions when
                         to produce oil in the future. There may have   they signed the PSC, he emphasised.
                         been some misinformation circulating on this   He went on to say that Guyana’s government
                         subject, given that the production-sharing con-  had assured the investors that they were not
                         tract (PSC) signed with Guyana clearly includes   looking to amend the contract. “They’ve been
                         provisions for relinquishment under certain cir-  very clear to us and Exxon that they’re going to
                         cumstances, he said during the 51st Annual Sco-  honour the PSC that we have in the country and
                         tia Howard Weil Energy Conference in Miami.  that they want us to develop their oil resources
                           ExxonMobil and the other members of the   as fast as possible,” he stated.



       P8                                      www. NEWSBASE .com                      Week 11   15•March•2023
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